The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk
NR | 01 January 1960 (USA)
The Man Who Wouldn't Talk Trailers

American scientist Dr. Frank Smith is brought to Britain to help the C.I.A. There is a defecting East block scientist they want him to debrief. The commies are less than amused and set Dr. Smith up for a murder.

Reviews
drednm

Two-part drama that has Anthony Quayle as an American scientist helping a spy agency with a defector who has stolen some experimental killer virus samples. He needs to pass them on to Quayle so he can perfect a vaccine before the enemy uses the virus. He poses as a honeymooner with a blonde agent (Zsa Zsa Gabor) in London and makes contact. But something goes wrong and there is a killing for which Quayle is charged with murder. Enter Anna Neagle as a successful Brit lawyer.All Quayle will tell her is that he is innocent. He also refuses to take the stand in his own defense because under cross examination he'd have to tell the story about the virus.The case seems doomed until a witness (Katherine Kath) for the prosecution comes forward and claims she saw the murder from her apartment window. This finally gives Neagle something to work with since the witness seems a little shaky.After Neagle visits the apartment and discovers a bullet hole, she's able to reconstruct the murder, but she has to get the witness to admit she has lied. But even this might not be enough to save Quayle if he has to take the stand.What follows is a very clever use of legal precedence, a slight loophole in the law.Neagle is excellent as the lawyer. Quayle's American accent seems oddly flat but he is otherwise solid. Gabor is surprisingly good as the agent. Kath is excellent as the witness. Others in the cast include John Le Mesurier as the judge, Dora Bryan as the silly switchboard operator, Hugh McDermott as the annoying Bernie, Patrick Allen as Kennedy, and Leonard Sachs as the defector.

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gordonl56

Tony Qualye plays an American scientist brought to Britain to help the C.I.A. There is a defecting East block scientist they want him to debrief. The commies are less than amused and set Qualye up for a murder. The police catch him fleeing the country and charge him with murder. All he says is that he is not guilty and nothing else. His lawyer, Anna Neagle, can not get Qualye to help in his defense. It seems that Quayle was given a secret formula to a killer virus by the defector. He can not clear himself without giving away the dangerous formula. He would rather hang than let it fall into the wrong hands. Neagle manages to prove the killing was a set up and the red agents are grabbed up. OK time-waster from the husband wife team of Neagle and Herbert Wilcox..(Wait till you see Zsa Zsa Gabor as a C.I.A. agent).

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